HOLTZ, CRAMER HONORED FOR 'EXCELLENCE'
WINSOR SCHOOL PLACES THIRD IN NATIONAL COMPETITION 9
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SEE PAGE 2 FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF THIS ISSUE’S CONTENTS.
VOLUME 22 | NUMBER 10 | JUNE 2015
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PRESIDENT’S VIEW MARSHA KAZAROSIAN
Voir dire, service awards highlight Annual Dinner
A fitting tribute to our year If you weren’t able to join us at our Annual Dinner last month, you missed an incredible event that had an energy that was infectious. Between the beautiful weather, the sold-out crowd, the well-deserved awards and a wonderful keynote by Attorney Mark Geragos, the evening was the pinnacle event of our association year. And I am so proud of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Scholarship recipient this year, Ying Wang, who received her scholarship at the Annual Dinner. As you can see from the cover story about her and her extraordinary accomplishments, she is truly the embodiment of what our profession celebrates. Although the Annual Dinner had no official theme, it was a celebration of everything that we have all accomplished this year — especially the advent of voir dire after decades of advocacy. As if part of the script, Geragos’ stories about voir dire and his own high-profile trials were the perfect punctuation to our night. There was no better way to kick off the dinner than with the presentation of the Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessey Award to Superior Court Associate Justice Dennis J. Curran, whose own voir dire tri2
MBA Chief Legal Counsel and COO Martin W. Healy, MBA Vice President John J. Morrissey, 2015 Annual Dinner Keynote Speaker Mark J. PHOTO BY JEFF THIEBAUTH Geragos, MBA President Marsha V. Kazarosian, MBA Secretary Christopher P. Sullivan, MBA Treasurer Jeffery N. Catalano and MBA President-elect Robert W. Harnais.
Legislators, judges and attorneys gathered at the Massachusetts Bar Association’s sold out Annual Dinner on May 7 to celebrate a milestone year for the legal community — a year in which lawyers earned the right to engage in jury voir dire in Superior Court for the first time. At the dinner, the MBA honored House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo with its 2015 President’s Award and Massachusetts Superior Court Associate Justice Dennis J. Curran with the Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessey Award, for their exceptional contributions to the administration of justice in the commonwealth. Keynote speaker Mark J. Geragos, principal of Geragos & Geragos, APC, in Los Angeles, commended the MBA as a great legal association and touted the ef-
Ying Wang honored with first Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship The Massachusetts Bar Association awarded Ying Wang, a third-year law student at New England Law | Boston, the first-ever MBA’s Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship. The $10,000 scholarship was presented to Wang at the MBA’s Annual Dinner on May 7, at the Westin Boston Waterfront. “Ms. Wang demonstrated an impressive, deep and sincere commitment to serving the underprivileged,” said MBA Treasurer Jeffrey N. Catalano, who chaired the MBA’s Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship Committee, which selected Wang for the inaugural scholarship. “From her rise from humble beginnings, to paying for college through ROTC, to achieving academic success at New
forts of its members to secure attorneydirected voir dire this past year. “There is no more important valued right — at least in the criminal justice system — then the ability to do attorneydirected voir dire,” said Geragos. “It’s my conclusion at this point that all trials — especially in the criminal law — are won and lost in jury selection. No matter what you think. No matter what kind of an orator you think you are. No matter what kind of rhetorical skills you think you have. You are never going to change somebody’s viewpoints … in a one-week, two-week or three-week trial … it’s just not going to happen. The die is cast when you tell the judge ‘we set the jury as present.’” In addition, the MBA presented thirdyear New England Law | Boston student
Going solo: MBA conference, resources help launch firms BY MIKE VIGNEUX
Ying Wang, of New England Law | Boston
PHOTO BY JEFF THIEBAUTH
England Law | Boston, she confirmed that she has the resilience, character and empathy so necessary to servicing the poor. The MBA is very proud to support her in her heroic journey.” A daughter of immigrants, Wang 4 considers herself a “public kid.”
Ying Wang with its first $10,000 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship and the 2015 Access to Justice Awards to six attorneys and one law firm for their exemplary legal skills and service to the community. “This is what we talk about at the MBA,” said MBA President Marsha V. Kazarosian. “You advocate for human rights, you advocate for consumers, the underrepresented, the people who need the support, and that’s what the theme [of this dinner] was. It was wonderful.” Access to Justice Award winners included: • Brian J. McLaughlin, who received the Pro Bono Public Award for his work in family law and advocacy for those with disabilities. • Benjamin Evans, who was 6
For attorneys who want to start their own solo practices or small firms, knowing where to begin is often the first challenge. Attorney Marc L. Breakstone believes a practical place to start is with this question — What does success mean to you? That question is often the way he begins “How to Start and Run a Successful Solo or Small Firm Practice,” a Massachusetts Bar Association conference he has cochaired for the past 20 years with his law partner and MBA Past President David W. White. Breakstone and White ask attendees to write the answer to that question on a piece of paper. That answer ultimately
helps steer the new solo or small firm in the right direction based on work/life balance. The key is to find a practice area that you can enjoy and have satisfaction working in while still building in time for what’s important to you. “It’s a very personal voyage starting your own firm, and we really try to emphasize that the practice should be built around you, rather than you building yourself around the job,” said Breakstone. Another key goal of the conference, which was most recently held on May 29 in Randolph, is to simply instill in attendees the confidence to go out and start their own solo or small firms. While starting a solo practice or small firm may seem daunting and overwhelming at the outset, this conference provides some practical and simple steps that can be taken 10